Whew. Found the problem and more importantly, the solution, here:
https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/bbpress-0902-released#post-16099
Should have searched a little more before getting panicky.
You know, I went back and wiped everything out and did installed it again and this time all went well and I’ve got it working. Not sure what was amiss, but happy now. Thanks for taking the time to help.
